The present invention relates to a particular novel class of substituted polyalkylsiloxanes and to the use thereof in the formation of high resilience polyurethane foam.
It is well known to the art that urethane polymers are provided by the reaction of organic polyisocyanates and active hydrogen-containing organic compounds such as, for example, polyether polyols. It is also well known that the reaction is usually effected in the presence of one or more activators and that blowing action is provided when cellular products are desired. In producing conventional flexible polyether urethane foam, the rate of reaction and heat generated by the exothermic reaction between the polyisocyanate and polyether polyol is sufficient to cure the center of the foam product but the surface temperature usually does not rise high enough to cure the outside rapidly. Consequently, extended high temperature post cure treatment is necessary in commercial practice to provide a foamed product of satisfactory overall properties.
A relatively recent advance in polyurethane foam technology is the advent of reaction mixtures having a sufficiently high reactivity to provide faster and more complete reactions during polymer formation and expansion. As a result, overall processing time including high temperature post curing, if any, is substantially reduced. Basically, the more highly exothermic nature of such reaction mixtures is provided by the employment of polyether polyols having a high content of primary hydroxyl groups. Such foams are especially desirable for cushioning applications in view of their excellent physical properties. Among these properties are reduced combustibility relative to conventional polyether foam, low flex fatigue which means long life as a cushioning material, and high resiliency which is usually from about 55 to about 70 percent, as measured by standard test procedure ASTM D-1564-69. In view of this latter characteristic, such foams are commonly referred to as "high resilience" foam.
Because of the rapid buildup of gel strength of high resilience foam systems, the foam can sometimes be provided without a surfactant. Typically, however, high resilience foams produced without a surfactant or stabilizer have very irregular cell structure. It is usually desirable, therefore, to include a silicone surfactant as an additional component of high resilience foam formulations in order to control cell uniformity and to minimize the tendency of the foam to settle. Surfactants required for stabilization of conventional flexible polyether foam are unsatisfactory for high resilience foam because they overstabilize, causing extremely tight foam and excessive shrinkage. If the problem is sought to be corrected by reducing the concentration of such surfactants to a level which eliminates shrinkage, the cells are no longer stabilized satisfactorily and the foam structure becomes irregular and coarse.
It is known that specific low viscosity unmodified dimethylsilicone oils having a narrow low molecular weight distribution are useful stabilizers for high resilience foam. Among other classes of surfactants for high resilience foam are: (1) the relatively low molecular weight polysiloxane-polyoxy-alkylene copolymers described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,741,917; (2) the particular class of aralkyl-modified siloxanes described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,839,384; (3) the cyanoalkyl- and cyanoalkoxy-modified siloxanes described in Belgian Pat. No. 809,978; and (4) the cyanoalkoxyalkyl- and cyanoalkoxyalkoxy-modified siloxanes described in Belgian Pat. No. 809,979.
It is a principal object of the present invention to provide a new class of siloxanes which are especially useful as surfactant components of polyurethane foam formulations containing a polyether polyol reactant having a high primary hydroxyl content, such as, in particular, high resilience foam formulations. Various other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the accompanying description and disclosure.
As a preface to the description of the present invention, it is noted that our copending application Ser. No. 592,129, filed June 30, 1975, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,049,674 describes and claims particular classes of sulfolanyloxyalkyl-substituted polyalkylsiloxane hydrides and sulfolanyloxyalkyl-substituted polyalkylsiloxane-polyoxyalkylene copolymers, and a method for providing flexible polyether and polyester urethane foam in the presence of the copolymers as foam stabilizers. Also noted is copending application Ser. No. 592,092, filed June 30, 1975, in the name of Curtis L. Schilling, Jr. and entitled "Sulfolanyloxyalkyl Cyclic Polysiloxanes." The latter application describes and claims sulfolanyloxyalkyl-heptaalkylcyclotetrasiloxanes and self-equilibrated polymers thereof. The said copending applications, however, do not describe the particular class of siloxanes to which the teachings of the present invention pertain.